Nightfall
by Claw
Summary: The fall of night is time for Miyu to hunt.
1. Prologue

Title: Vampire Princess Miyu - Nightfall - Prologue   
Author: Claw   
Archive: Yes, just let me know where to find it.   
Spoilers: Um.. VPM OAV 1-4; New Vampire Miyu comics; pretty much the   
entire Japanese television series; possibly Vampire Princess Yui, although   
I haven't decided to what extent.   
Disclaimer: Vampire Princess Miyu and Larva are the rightful work and   
property of Kakinouchi Narumi and/or Toshihiro Hirano, AnimEigo, Dark   
Horse Comics, Antarctic Press, Studio Ironcat, Victor Entertainment, etc.   
or whoever comes first. Please don't sue me. I'm already broke. I apologize   
if I step on some toes.  
Summary: Nightfall is the time for Miyu to hunt.  
  
  
Nightfall - Prologue  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
"You have beautiful dreams," said a voice.  
  
Rina whipped her head to face the voice she had heard. It was a quiet   
evening in the park, just before sunset. Rina hadn't seen anyone for   
several minutes besides a jogger and an elderly lady feeding the   
stone-colored city pigeons. She hadn't even heard the girl walking   
behind her.  
  
Still surprised, she stood quickly.   
  
"What would you know about my dreams?"  
  
Rina eyed the girl carefully. Her navy-colored uniform suggested they   
attended the same school, but her face was unfamiliar. She had long   
brown hair, tied to one side in a bun and braided with a red ribbon.   
Rina noted her expression of bemusement. She wore an odd smile on her   
face. Her eyes were a plain brown, no -- they were gold-colored now.   
How strange. Was it a trick of the light?  
  
Rina was still staring wordlessly at the girl when she sat down on the   
park bench an arm's length away. Rina sat back down.  
  
"I suppose I consider myself an expert on dreams," the girl replied.   
She paused for a moment.   
  
"I could give you what you desire most. In return, I just want a   
little taste."  
  
Rina considered the girl's offer. "Will it hurt?"  
  
The girl leaned close and whispered in her ear. "You won't feel any pain,"   
she promised.   
  
Rina Koga closed her eyes as the strange-eyed girl tilted her head. She   
felt a sharpness at her neck. Warm hands held her head and shoulders   
still. Rina resisted the urge to cry out as the feeling left her body.   
She became weary, tired. Too tired to lift her eyelids.  
  
Everything became still. Rina didn't hear the crickets chirping anymore.   
She opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was blurry, like she was waking   
up from a dream.   
  
Rina waited for the blurring to subside. She could make out two figures   
running across the sand. She saw a tall girl with gentle eyes and a smaller   
girl with a high-pitched giggle. The taller one was chasing the little one  
playfully through the surf.  
  
Rina smiled with joy. "A beach? Ane-san? Imouto-chan?"   
  
"Rina-chan?" the tall one called out. "Hurry up! Papa is ready to eat   
supper!"  
  
"Ane-san and Imouto-chan... Papa... Mama..." Rina whispered in disbelief.   
  
"Rina-chan," the taller girl began. "What is the matter? You look like   
you've seen a ghost."  
  
Rina shook her head. "I had the most horrible dream. I dreamt you,   
Imouto-chan, Papa and Mama died in a fire. I thought I was all alone."  
  
The little one ahead looked up and began to giggle. "...hehe... I think   
Rina-san has been drinking the seawater again."  
  
"Hush, Yoko" the taller girl scolded. "Nothing's wrong here, Rina.   
We're here on Grandfather's beach and Mama has finished cooking. We had   
better hurry or Yoko-chan will get the best pieces of crab before we do."  
  
Rina began to run across the beach. "I'm coming, Ane-san."  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
In a forest of bare-limbed trees, the girl with the strange golden eyes   
smiled. She watched the image of Rina and her sisters from an orb   
resting in her palm.   
  
"Oyasuminasai, Rina..."  
  
"...goodnight..."  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
The falling sun set the jagged Japanese skyline aflame in brilliant   
strokes of lavender and crimson. From far away, a kimono-clad girl   
atop an ancient wooden tori observed the vivid scenery, patiently   
awaiting the transition of twilight.   
  
Over the last few decades, Japan plunged into modernization; progress   
and had all but forgotten its humble roots. Technology splintered the   
once serene horizon and science moved at a maddening pace. Mankind,   
however, had been less quick to change. An increasing number of lost   
souls appeared almost overnight when in fact it had been a gradual   
process of growing impersonality and technological isolation. People   
were communicating like never before, but so few were connecting.   
  
Miyu never complained. Those who were desperately unhappy found their   
way to her. Nowadays, she hardly ever went without a meal.   
  
Neither, of course, did Shinma. The demon-gods of old came by the   
dozens, each carving their particular niche into the mixture of human   
discontent, feeding themselves into a frenzy like a hungry group of   
sharks drawn to the sweet scent of blood.   
  
It was good Miyu wasn't weak from hunger. She would need her strength.   
She and her servant-companion, Larva, had never been more occupied.   
Each night, it seemed, there was a new Shinma to be found and banished.   
  
Now, it was almost time to hunt.  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
  
Acknowledgements: Thanks to everyone who read my pevious fanfic and was   
kind enough to leave feedback. Your kind words and thoughts have renewed   
my desire to write. Stay tuned.  
  
Authors Notes: It's far from finished and subject to constant revision.   
This is only the beginning of what I hope will be an ongoing series. I   
consider it a semi-sequel (or prequel?) to my last VPM fic, "A Servant's   
Duty". While not a prolific writer, I hope to be one of substance. It's   
taken me a long time to get this far, so please be patient with me. I   
haven't really decided on a "direction". I guess I prefer creative freedom.   
Please alert me of any glaringly huge errors.  
  
It's been recently suggested that I should write more romance.   
I'll keep that in mind.   
  
Also, "ane" is Japanese for older sister and "imouto" means younger sister.  
  
Feedback: Feedback is always welcomed. claw789@yahoo.com  



	2. Part I - Beginnings

Title: Vampire Princess Miyu - Nightfall - Prologue   
Author: Claw   
Archive: Yes, just let me know where to find it.   
Spoilers: Um.. VPM OAV 1-4; New Vampire Miyu comics; pretty much the   
entire Japanese television series; possibly Vampire Princess Yui, although   
I haven't decided to what extent.   
Disclaimer: Vampire Princess Miyu and Larva are the rightful work and   
property of Kakinouchi Narumi and/or Toshihiro Hirano, AnimEigo, Dark   
Horse Comics, Antarctic Press, Studio Ironcat, Victor Entertainment, etc.   
or whoever comes first. Please don't sue me. I'm a mere student.  
Summary: Nightfall is the time for Miyu to hunt.  
Archiving: I'd be honoured, but I'd also like to know.   
  
  
Nightfall - Part I - Beginnings  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
Miyu and Larva had traveled up the eastern coast and down the western   
coast, moving from area to area, never staying in one place too long.   
She was careful not to arouse suspicion, which was difficult in   
heavily populated areas like the Tokyo-Osaka Corridor. News of   
"inexplicable exsanguinations" prompted massive media coverage. Sales   
of garlic, hand mirrors, and crucifixes went up or sold out entirely.   
It usually made her laugh aloud.  
  
When things got too hot, Miyu would disenrole from school and   
disappear, allowing her presence to be forgotten. After a long enough   
time had elapsed, anyone who might have remembered her would be   
elderly or dead. She could resurface in about forty or fifty years.   
  
It wasn't that she feared humans, their mortal weapons or their   
critical eyes. It was simply better that she remained an illusion,   
another little fantasy of some businessman who drank too much sake   
or something out of a comic book by Kakinouchi. Most humans, Miyu had   
learned, were content in the knowledge that they were the sovereign   
masters of their world, that reason and logic placed them on steady   
foundations that could not be toppled by any amount of mysticism. The   
truth was not worth their peace of mind.   
  
Shinma did not share Miyu's outlook on mortals. The mythical monsters   
sought to enslave mankind or feed upon them without mercy. Some wanted to   
be worshiped as gods. There was even a few that wanted to destroy humans   
completely, to allow the Earth to revert to its purer, primitive   
state... the world before mankind. But the Shinma's time was simply over.   
The world belonged to humans now, and it was theirs to do with as they   
wished. Men may not have been the most sensical creatures, what with   
slowly poisoning the planet they lived on, but they were capable of   
great nobility and compassion.  
  
The age of Shinma existed for more than a million years, Miyu had   
discovered. The age of man deserved the opportunity to redeem   
themselves.   
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
It was a productive evening. A Shinma in a local park had taken   
sanctuary in a wishing pool. It would give the wisher their heart's   
desire to distract them while it fed. The victim would walk home in a   
pleasant trance, fall asleep and never wake up.   
  
By the time Miyu began investigating, several students of a nearby   
school had already died in this fashion. The cowardly Shinma, once   
scorned by a human lover, vowed to take her vengeance upon mortal   
youths. It would only reveal itself as a blurred reflection of the   
viewer in the pool. Miyu made sure that nothing was left of the Shinma   
but ashes.  
  
Miyu turned her head to face her somber-masked companion.  
  
"Come on, Larva."  
  
"It's time to go now."  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
The pair had found shelter in an abandoned inn just outside of the   
city. The neighbors had considered it "cursed" after the mysterious   
death of the inn-hostess's daughter and the subsequent disappearance   
of the inn-hostess herself. No one wanted to buy or run an inn with   
such a bad reputation; only fools and tourists would stay at such a   
place. In the end, it was simply shut down.  
  
Miyu had heard none of the rumors, although upon entering the inn   
she had detected the old scent of a Shinma that had long since moved   
on. The locale was perfect, she reasoned. She moved in immediately.  
  
Rumors of the inn's haunted state only increased as Miyu resided there.   
The locals caught quick glimpses of crimson-colored kimono or heard the   
soft, undulating tones of a flute. The citizenry were curious, yet not   
brave enough to investigate. It might have been spirit of the   
inn-mistress' daughter returning home or perhaps the inn-mistress keeping   
vigil for her lost child. And if it was, the inn still belonged to them.   
The neighbors simply left them at peace.  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
It was a simple setting. Plain, some might call it, but not austere or   
Spartan. Tatami mats lined the rooms. An ideal courtyard garden lay   
past a transparent shoji screen. The walls were washed in a soft   
yellow and bare of idol posters or magazine clippings a typical   
adolescent might have hung. There was a bed for sleeping and a wardrobe   
for clothes. There was nothing unusual, except for a dark chest. It was   
lacquered to a shiny black finish with etched designs of willow trees.   
Inside were various objects of mixed origin, resting on smooth red   
velvet.  
  
There was a faded photograph of her mother and father in sepia tones.   
The edges were worn from handling, but their faces could still be seen.   
Besides the aged photo was a ukiyo-e, an ink painting, of the rolling   
sea stored in a sturdy cardboard cylinder. Inside a blue silk pouch   
was a round silver charm with the shape of a star and crescent cut out   
of the metal. It's surface was beginning to tarnish and lose it's   
luster, but the memories it invoked in Miyu was always the same -- a   
gentle shock and a warm smile. In a nearby corner was a fan of   
vermilion-colored paper with a bamboo spine.   
  
The mismatched trinkets shared one common link -- they were reminders   
of a life that once was and can never be again.  
  
----------=====+++++=====----------   
  
  
Authors Notes: That ending really sucked, didn't it? It didn't seem to end   
quite the way I wanted it to. I put myself under some pressure to at least   
finish Part I before going back to school. I'm proud that it's done now,   
although some heavy editing will take place later.  
  
Feedback: claw789@yahoo.com  
  
  
"Ocha tte nigai demo... hito no chi wa atatakakute tottemo amai no"   
"Tea is always bitter... but blood is warm and sweet"   
--Miyu  



End file.
